Method of producing carbid.



,vvr'ru 'vimriiwww lulu i allo@ i, their* HERMAN L.

H UA KUT .'i.

Application lcti July ZSt lBUZ. Renewed September 30,1905.

of llliiiois, have invented u neu' and usel'ul lflerbid and Method oi Produciw; the Same. ol which the following is a specincntion.

This invent ion relates to carbid und method oroducing the same.

ln the manufacture of calcium carbid as ordinarilir practiced lime or limestone is fused with carbon in an electric o-' 4ier furnace and the materiel is reduced to ii uid form by intense heat. When the muss luis been sul- 'iciently liquefied under 'the heat to which it is subjected, the hcatsupply arrested, or the molten mass if; otherwise permitted to cool slowly, usually in the electric or other furnace in which the melting operation cerzo ricd on, and the cooled product is removed and is prepared for commercial use in the manufacture of acetylene or other gas. This method is open to severcl serious practical objections. in the iirstpince, when the molten mass is permitted cool slowl)Y the.

resulting product ol crystalline formation or character', full of blow or air holes, and the product is Dorous or coarse-granted, so to speak, thereby em'tbling` the carbid produced 3o to readily absorb moisture from the air while being crushed and )ached lor shipment or trom the Water tan or reserijeir employed in the manufacture ci gas therefrom, thereb)v not only deteriorating 'the carbid and rapidly exhausting the same of its ges-producing quality, but also resulting in the gereration of gas while being stored or when not re.- uuired for use, and 'hence resulting in waste as well as in rendering a gns-geitcrnting i laut.

4o or carbid-storage tank or reservoir unsafe.

Again, tite portion of material in the electric or other furnace which is reduced to melted condition is usually much smaller in quantity than the amount or quantity oi materiel supplied to thelurnace,a1nl consetpicntly the melted portion is usually' surrounded by or incloscd in a mass oi unmelted material, which, however, has been heetcd to a high de.- eree and which consequently cools slowly.

5o lt t'rerpiently occurs that this unmelted material surrounding the melted portion ndlieres as crust or casing to the, melted portion and being unfit for use for gas-gerenting purposes is required to 'be chipped oil' or Specification of Letters Patent.

rcinovetl from the pure curbid helore the latter is broken or crushed and packed iorshipment or use. This reccssitutes rot only the arrest ing of the iuri'uce operutiou duriiur the cooling period, but ulso necessitates tlze lulior involved i'iehij'ipiiigoll orremoriizgtlecrust, which labor involves tive additional disadvantage oi danger to the hands ot" thc orperatois emiloyed -lor this purpose, ther/eb)Y greatly adding lo the expense ol manufact uro ol the carbid ns well as resulting in the production of an interiorquality of linishcd product, and in en v case v'hcu the. finished prod uct is broken up or crushed ready for packu ir1g,shi iinent, or use they erccntuge of tires or sma particles of carbid which are undesirable for shipment or use is very large.

lt. is among the special purposes of my present invention to avoid these lilliculties mid objections and to produce a carbid havinicr a compurtitively herd stone or flint-lil e structure which is not objectiotably porous und not iiearliv so hjrgroscopic in its nature its the crystalline )reduci and which during the crushing or irrealrirg operution docs not Yield so large a percentage of lires, but )reduces a much larger percentage of the larger or merchantablc sizes.

ln carrying out my invention l propose to tap the electric or other furnaces in which the fusing or melting operation takes place or otherwise run oll' therefrom the molten mass und permitting the same to llow into chilled molds or orerchilled plates or to sprcnd out into a comptuatively thin sheet, whereby the molten mass of pure cui-bid, free from adhering particles of unmelted or unt-onverlet! nmterial, is crnbled and permitted to chill or cool quickly or within a very l'ew minutes time. In this manner l avoid the longI delays of lroin ten to twenty-tour hours` or longer which has heretofore been found here sary to ell'eet thc coolinpr of the melted material. l also uvoid the iteeessity for chipping oli or removing any iiclosingf crust ol urconvcrted material, und l avoid the crystalline fornnttion in the linished product, und l scc-uro a carbid which is ol n hardened stone or iliuti' nature, oupnble ol' resistinrr the absorption of moisture during the crushing, breaking, packing, shipping, and storing;` or use. of the iinished product und ut the same time am enabled to crush or break the carbid into larger particles or pieces -for coni- Nlllt, BY lill-ISNE UOM PA 2i Y, Ol"

mercinl use, thereby avoiding the vvaste due to the large percentage of lines heretofore encountered.

Itis to be'understood that my invention is not to be limited to the character of materil als employed to produce the molten mass. For instance, lime, limestone, or any calcium bearing or containing ore or compound may be employed, and similarly any carbonaceous orcarbon bearing or containing substance ma be used, such as coal, coke, charcoal, an( the like.

Having now set forth the object and nature oi my invention and the method of operation involved in carrying the same into practical operation, what I claim as new andv useful and of my own-invention, and desire to secure by'Letters Pet-ent, is

In the manufacture of carbid, the method which consists in fusing lime and carbon containing elements to reduce the same to molten 

